Tobacco combine stalk guides

ABSTRACT

In a tobacco combine having a pair of contra-rotating defoliation blade members, upper and lower guides are provided for assuring proper positioning of the tobacco leaves for defoliation without impeding the speed of defoliation such as by gripping engagements of the stalk. The upper guide has diverged forward ends which converge toward one another (in a direction toward the rear) and project downwardly (in a direction forward of the defoliating blade members), intermediate portions which converge gradually rearwardly with downwardly sloping parallel portions which, in turn, are connected by curved portions to rear suspension brackets.

This application is a continuation-in-part of our Application Ser. No.503,676, filed Sept. 6, 1974 now U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,035,998, thebenefit of the filing date thereof being claimed under 35 U.S.C. 120.There has been a sale of the subject matter claimed herein more than oneyear prior to the filing date hereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for harvesting tobaccoleaves and, more particularly, it relates to a tobacco combine which canbe mounted on an agricultural tractor with a rate of capacity of atleast fifty horse power, the combine can be mounted and detached justlike any other agricultural implement. Moreover, the tractor combine canbe mounted on one or both sides of the tractor thereby giving theoperator the capability of harvesting either one or two rowssimultaneously. Improvements are provided in the defoliator assembliesper se which are constituted by flat, rectangularly shaped defoliatorsslotted on each side so as to produce a slapping effect and therebydefoliating the tobacco leaves. Each of the defoliators is equiped atits rear with means for insuring the deposit of tobacco leaves onto theconveyor assemblies, such means being constituted by kickers. Inaddition, upper and lower stalk guide assemblies are provided forassuring the proper positioning of the stalks of tobacco with respect tothe defoliator assemblies. Furthermore, the defoliators are mounted oncontrarotating shafts which may be adjusted for widening or narrowingthe gap between the two defoliators.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, advantages and features of the inventionwill become more apparent from the following specification taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a tractor combine incorporating theinvention,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a tractor combine incorporating theinvention,

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a defoliator assembly asincorporated in the invention,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on lines 4--4 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the hydraulic drive system forsupplying drive power to the different implements in accordance with theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The tractor combine is a three point attachment unit. It is mounted bybolts to any tractor in three different locations. In front the tractorcombine is attached to the weight mount of the agricultural tractor 37;in the rear, it is attached at two locations, to the rear axle housing35 of the tractor and inside each wheel (not shown). There are four mainvertical hollow iron beams 22F, 22R, which support the tractor combine.In the back they are mounted on the plates 36 which attach to the axlehousing. The attachment in the front is by way of a horizontal lateralhollow iron beam (not shown), which is bolted to the tractor's weightmount 37. This horizontal lateral beam supports the two main verticalbeams 22F. These four vertical beams 22F, 22R support two longitudinalmain beams 13, which are located directly above and in line with thetractor and they function as the main support structure for the tractorcombine. The four vertical main beams 22F, 22R are provided with lateralstability and rigidity through four upper horizontal and transverselydisposed beams 32F, 32R, which run between the two longitudinal mainbeams. Two of these horizontal transverse beams are located in the frontabove the weight mount attachment and two are located in the rear behindthe driver's seat (not shown) of the tractor, on which the hydraulicfluid reservoir 8 rests. They function in a dual capacity. Thelongitudinal main beams 13, the four vertical beams 22F, 22R, and thefour horizontal lateral beams 32F, 32R connecting them, provide thestructural integrity for the entire assembly. In addition thereto aretwo braces 23 located in the front, running at a 45 degree angle betweenthe front portion of the front vertical main beam to the lower portionof the longitudinal main beams 13 to insure further integrity andstability. All attachments except those that attach to the tractoritself consist of welds.

Lying immediately on top of the two horizontal longitudinal main beams13 are located three heavy duty transversely extending beams 34, whichproject laterally at 90 degree angle from the intended direction ofmovement of the tractor, from which the tractor combine is actuallysuspended. The three transverse beams are fastened to the longitudinalsystem by U bolts and plates 14.

From these transversely extending beams 34 are suspended four verticalsuspension guide beams, two in front 21F and two in rear 21R, whichprovide a rigid guidance system.

As shown in FIG. 1 the defoliation unit 1A, 1B and the conveyorassemblies 2A, 2B are affixed to the vertical guide beams by two frontroller guides 28F and two rear roller guides 28R. These units aresuspended by four cables 16 which, through a system of pulleys, locatedon the lateral extending beams 34, are activated by hydraulic cylinder9.

The conveyor assemblies 2A, 2B are suspended by suspension brackets inthe rear 24A, 24B (the rear drawn only) and directly attached in thefront to the conveyor belt assembly. The hereinabove described cables16, actually attach to the suspension brackets and front suspensionguides 21F, which gives vertical control to the entire tractor combine.As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the front vertical suspension guide beams 21Fare slidably mounted in the front suspension guides 28F and the rearvertical suspension guide beams 21R are slideably mounted in rearsuspension guides 28R. The whole unit can thus be lowered to the groundor raised, at the option of the operator. Hydraulic motors 15C, 15Dactivate rearwardly inclined (oblique) conveyor assemblies 3A, 3B which,through the gears and endless chains 33, activate all other conveyorassemblies 2A, 2B, 3C. The conveyor assemblies are interconnected by asystem of activation gears and endless chains 33.

THE DEFOLIATION ASSEMBLY

The defoliation system consists of upper stalk guides 10 which, as shownin FIGS. 1 and 2, project forwardly of the tractor combine and areconstituted by bars. The diverged forward ends 10F converge toward oneanother (see FIG. 1) and project downwardly (see FIG. 2). The upperguides include intermediate portions 10I which converge to graduallyrearwardly sloping parallel portions 10P which are connected by curvedportions 10C to rear suspension brackets 24A, 24B by welding. A pair oflower stalk guides 11, 12 are positioned below the defoliator elements1A and 1B. As shown in FIG. 1, the lower stalk guides 11 and 12 and theupper stalk guides 10 define a path through which tobacco stalks areguided as the tractor traverses a given row of tobacco plants. Theactual defoliation is accomplished by two counter-rotating flatrectangular pieces of composition material which are outfitted withslots. The composition material defining the slots does the actualdefoliating of the tobacco stalk.

As shown in FIG. 3, each defoliator element 1A and 1B is a flat flapperelement 54 having slits or slots 55 two inches (2") deep and seven (7)per side, the forward end of each having tapered ends. They are attachedby two metal shafts 51 and 52, the front of each being journaled into aball bearing device at end 56, and the back of which fastens to auniversal joint U.J. The defoliator shafts are rotated in oppositedirections by hydraulic motors 15A and 15B which are supplied in serieswith hydraulic fluid from a pump (see FIG. 5). The forward ends of theshafts 51 and 52 are laterally adjustable by adjustment 31A and 31B, theuniversal joints U.J. permitting this adjustment so that the spacingbetween the defoliators can be widened or narrowed. Located at the rearof the rectangular flappers are kickers 60 and 61 (located to the rearof universal joint U.J.) which are radially longer than the flappers 54,there being a pair of kickers in line with the flappers and a pair at anangle of 90° (see FIG. 4), which propel the defoliated tobacco leavesonto the horizontal conveyor belts 25. Then the tobacco leaves areprevented from falling off the conveyor belts by shields and fenders 1718, 25 which are carried at the outer sides of conveyor assemblies 2Aand 2B. The leaves are then transported toward the rear by conveyors 25,where they are deposited onto the oblique conveyor belt assemblies 3Band 3C. Conveyors 3B and 3C are located on top of one another withfacing runs 75 and 76 driven in the same direction with a narrow space77 for tobacco leaves between facing runs, which insures the upwardtransportation of the tobacco leaves and prevents them from slidingdownward. The tobacco leaves are deposited from the top of the obliqueconveyor belt assemblies 3B and 3C onto the lateral-conveyor tray 5 fromwhence they slide onto the lateral-conveyor assembly 6 which is drivenby hydraulic motor 15C supplied from the pump (see FIG. 5). Located atthe rear of the lateral-conveyor assembly is located a shield 7 whichprevents spillage. The lateral-conveyor assembly 6 transports thetobacco leaves onto a tray (not shown) which is located at the rear ofthe tractor, which is placed on any lifting device which is suitable fortractor attachments. Here the tobacco leaves can be stored or racked bya laborer.

As shown in FIG. 5 the defoliation and conveyor assemblies are driven bya separate hydraulic pump 70 which is activated by the P.T.O. unit ofthe tractor and supplied by a hydraulic fluid reservoir 8 (see FIG. 4).Hydraulic fluid from pump P flows through a pressure relief valve 50 toa 50--50 flow divider 51. Two parallel paths are provided from divider50: a first path including further flow control divider 52 whichcontrols flow of hydraulic fluid to defoliator drive motors 15A and 15B,and a second path including flow control divider 53 which controls flowof hydraulic fluid to the conveyor drive motors 15C, 15D and 15E, therebeing a 50-50 flow divider 27 to provide equal hydraulic fluid flow toconveyor motors 15C and 15D, the flow from these two motors beingcombined and supplied to control valve 26 which controls flow ofhydraulic fluid to conveyor motor 15E. The flow from the two pathsreturns to oil sump tank 8. The vertical control system is driven by thetractor hydraulic system, which is inherent in all U.S. made tractors,which the inventors are acquainted with.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a tobacco combine having a defoliationassembly mounted for vertical adjustment relative to tobacco stalks,said defoliation assembly including a pair of contrarotating tobaccoleaf defoliator blades, an upper stalk guide and a lower stalk guide theimprovement in said upper guide which comprises said upper guide beingadapted to lift the not-to-be-defoliated leaves above the action area ofsaid defoliator blades and being constituted bya pair of spaced apartrod-like members, said rod members having (1) diverged forward endportions (10F) which converge upwardly and rearwardly toward oneanother, respectively, forward of said blades, and project downwardly atthe most forward ends to thereby engage and lift saidnot-to-be-defoliated leaves, (2) intermediate portions which convergegradually rearwardly (10I) to downwardly and rearwardly sloping parallelportions (10P), which maintain the not-to-be-defoliated leaves abovesaid pair of contra-rotating blades, and (3) rear end portions (10C) forsecuring the rear ends of said spaced rod-like members in fixed positionrelative to said defoliator blades.